Lutheran anti-malaria effort beginning

ST. LOUIS (AP) _ One of the largest U.S. Lutheran denominations is launching a campaign this week to rid Africa of malaria.

The Lutheran Malaria Initiative is a partnership of Lutheran World Relief and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which has 2.3 million members in 6,200 congregations.

The initiative seeks to raise $45 million toward eliminating malaria deaths in Africa by 2015.

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod says its congregations, schools and individuals have already contributed nearly $2 million to the project.